Monday, May 15, 2023

Jerome on Galatians 3:1 and Jesus being "portrayed (προγράφω) as crucified"

  

3.1b. Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.

 

Christ is rightly said to be portrayed clearly before us because the whole chorus of the [Old Testament] prophets foretold his torture, suffering, and the blows and whippings he would receive. As a result, we know about the cross not only from the Gospel, which relates the story of his crucifixion, but also [from writings penned] long before he deigned to come down to earth and assume the form of a crucified man. It is much to the Galatians’ credit that they believed in Christ crucified as he had previously been portrayed for them. They of course had been led in due course to this belief by continually reading the prophets and by knowing all of the ordinances of the old Law. (Jerome, Commentary on Galatians, ed. David G. Hunter [trans. Andrew Cain; The Fathers of the Church 121; Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2010], 119-20)

 

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